Medusa's Kiss
by Tendershipping Fanatic
Summary: Tris wants Tobias to tell her the story of his initiation. Tobias helps her to realize that even the most sadistic of humans are not naturally inclined to evil, and that perhaps Tobias had a bigger hand in the making of the monster than he'd like to admit. Eric/OC, Tobias/OC, Tobias/Shauna, Future Tobias/Tris. Please Review!


In the year that Tobias transferred from Abnegation to Dauntless, there were a total of sixteen Dauntless initiates – nine transfers, seven Dauntless-born. Of those sixteen, Tobias could tell, with some degree of certainty, that at least three of them (not including himself) would make the cut.

Two were transfers from Erudite. The first was tall and lean, with greasy black hair and cold, calculating eyes. His snarl was enough to elicit a shiver of fear from the Amity transfers – Tobias estimated that they'd last about a week a piece – and the dark aura he seemed to project warned the others to keep their distance. Almost all did. The only one brave enough to come close was the other Erudite transfer. She barely came up to his shoulder, with red hair so dark it almost looked black, and painfully innocent green eyes. Instead of looking on him with fear, she looked at him almost _reverently_. Tobias didn't understand it.

Then, there was another. Tobias didn't know why he felt so confident about her success… her current physical condition wasn't exactly conducive to the Dauntless lifestyle. She was short, but pretty. Standing away from the other initiates, she seemed shy and detached. She'd just lost her family, and now, seemed to find some difficulty in making friends. She wasn't like the two from Erudite, who chatted with the comfortable familiarity of two that had known each other their entire lives. But still, there was something undeniably compelling about her, and Tobias couldn't help but almost be _charmed_ by her innocent obscurity.

Only ten of them would make it into the Dauntless faction. Tobias knew that he had to be one of them, no matter the obstacles laid out before him. He would make it into the Dauntless if it was the last thing that he did…

* * *

Tobias POV

I'd like to say that making friends came easily in my new faction, but standing alone as the only Abnegation transfer was not easy. I could already sense tension between myself and the boy from Erudite. Besides, he seemed more interested in his fellow transfer than in any of the others. The Candor transfers seemed to do well under pressure, quickly befriending the two from Amity and bringing them into their inner-circle. And the other girl, who seemed so stoic in her quiet pensiveness, continued to sit off to the side, seemingly lost in her thoughts.

It was only when the first day of training rolled around that I learned any of their names. Our instructor told us to be in the shooting range, awake and alert, by seven-thirty. Seven o' clock rolled around and most of the transfers were still in bed. The red-haired girl had crawled into the tall boy's bunk in the middle of the night and they slept together peacefully, a considerable divide between their two bodies. One boy was sniffling in his sleep. I pretended to ignore him, not wanting to think about the tears that must be staining his cheeks. Instead, I woke up… only to run into the quiet, pretty girl changing for that morning's training.

"Oh." She sounded slightly breathless, a little nervous. A dark blush stained her pale cheeks. "Good morning." She awkwardly stuffed herself into the shirt, focusing her eyes on the ground.

"Good morning." I didn't realize that we were whispering – we both were. We were both secretly afraid of waking the rest of the room, of poking the sleeping bears. "Um…" I cleared my throat, looking down, "Sorry about that."

She let out a tight little laugh. "You act like you've never seen a girl half-naked before."

She said it like it was so _normal_, and I, a little embarrassed, forced out, "No. Not really."

Now, she let out a _real_ laugh. Her mouth stretched into a pretty smile, and I realized how _bright_ her face looked when she smiled. "No reason to get all upset about it." She shrugged. "I'm Shauna, by the way. What's your name?"

"Tobias." I said.

It was around that time that the others began to stir. The red-haired girl awoke first and, sitting up, dragged her knuckles back and forth over the raven's head. He stirred agitatedly, swatting at her hand. Shauna and I watched as the girl rolled off of the bed and sashayed over to her own. His eyes never left her ass and I had to wonder if my earlier assumption that they were merely friends was incorrect. When she started to undress, I looked away. The last thing that I needed was to get on the wrong side of a former member of Erudite. Shauna offered me a small smile.

"The girl's name is Lesley." Shauna explained. "Her father is an Erudite reporter – so she's pretty tough shit, at least as far as the Erudite are concerned." And then, "The boy is Eric. He's a little wacked in the head. He's got an awful temper, too."

But Lesley did not seem to be the focus of his ire. Once again, I was confronted with the possibility that they were in a relationship. "Are they… you know..?" Already, the ways of the Abnegation were leaving my system.

"Oh, no." She shook her head. "It's not like that. They're just _really_ good friends."

"Ah," I nodded, unconvinced. "So, do _you_ stare at all of your friends' butts?"

"Oh, of course." She laughed, and there was that pretty smile again. "But seriously, it's not like that. At least, not from her end."

"You said that her father's an Erudite reporter, right?" Shauna nodded, carefully folding her night clothes and tucking them away in the drawer beneath her bed. "Any chance he has any connection to the recent slander of Abnegation?"

She shrugged. "Even if he was, there'd be no way to prove it. Erudite uses anonymous sources – unless the source gives explicit consent to print their name – and the author of the piece is rarely, if ever, published. You'd have a better chance of -,"

"Finding a needle in a haystack." I finished dejectedly.

"Right." She nodded. "C'mon, it's almost seven thirty."

I dressed quickly – I was in such a rush that I accidentally slipped my shirt on backwards, and, blushing, had to turn it around. Shauna was giggling softly, but for some reason, I didn't find it offensive. Instead, I found myself laughing also. Sometimes, it was all you could do to find a way to laugh at yourself. I got a quick, sidelong glance from Lesley. She really seemed to be a sweet girl, it was just unfortunate the company which she kept. As if to reinforce that thought, she tossed something my direction. It landed on the bed with a soft _thud_, bouncing once before settling down. It was a muffin.

"Thought you might like something to eat, so you don't pass out in training." She smiled, and it was as if my heart turned to stone. Shauna might have been pretty, but Lesley was _gorgeous_. "I believe I've already been introduced."

I couldn't speak, I didn't have a chance. Eric appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist, dragging her out the door. "C'mon, Lesley. No reason to lower yourself by associating with a Stiff…"

As they went out the door, she waved to me. My heart fluttered in my chest and I missed Shauna's disgusted shake of the head. I'd looked into Medusa's eyes, and now, there was no turning back. The beautiful, incomparable Lesley Copeland had stolen my heart… but I was not the only one head-over-heels for a monster.

I just never realized that the real war was not winning her heart, but ultimately losing her to _him_.


End file.
